Hmm, best advice I can give is to start with an outline, then start filling in details as they come to you. Maybe a broad statement, then bullet points under that. Also, be very nitpicky about your formating and approach--what I mean by that is don't be afraid to completely change the format to make it work, don't get stuck with a format and just plow forward.

Also, don't get too detailed. Remember your audience. Is this going to be read by a highly technical IT person, or is it more likely for your CFO who's really good at Excel but not much else?

90% virtualization of servers by 2011

Using a cluster of 3 VMware ESX servers

Sampling of servers we will virtualize: Accounting1, File1 and File2

Again, might not be the final format at least start by getting your thoughts out of your head and onto paper. Also don't be afraid to ask what format and level of detail is wanted.

Another part to this is that the owner wants to see estimated costs and deployment times. That doesn't seem like the right order to do things in because of all the time it will take to get that information. (Not because it's particularly hard but because I've got almost no time during the day to get that information.)

Business needs will define your uptime requirements and capabilities. (You negotiate this with management)

The uptime requirement demands what the infrastructure needs to be. (You get to design this). Define a security perimeter where everything inside the perimeter is OWNED by the company, INVENTORIED, and MANAGED by policy. Things that violate the security perimeter (like remote access, laptops, pda's, modems, floppies, thumb drives) need a brief risk analysis spreadsheet to determine the benefits versus the risks. Management needs to sign off on the risk analysis.

You need a budget to support the infrastructure. (based on the uptime requirements you negotiated).

Once you get your budget, identify wants versus needs and prioritize your spending/effort.

Consider making an IT Steering committee consisting of yourself, the finance person, and key managers who take IT seriously. Meet with the committee monthly and review your to-do versus ta-done list. This is where you get to show that you're spending "X" amount of your time just putting out fires, then you have the remaining "Y" amount of time for the outstanding project list. Work together with the steering committee to create a 2 page IT POLICY document with paragraphs that describe IT VISION STATEMENT / UPTIME, IT MANAGEMENT (the steering committee) , IT BUDGET , IT STAFFING , PHYSICAL FACILIITES , NETWORKS , HARDWARE , OS , APPS , DATA , USERS , DEPARTMENTS , and CUSTOMER TYPES.

Chris, in all honesty that's a great idea and something that would be a great exercise for you as well. My guess is you're a smaller organization so you may not be part of the budgeting process, but this is exactly what you need for that.

So first thing, what's the "end time" for your "end state"? Right? So, 12 months from now what do you want accomplished. My guess is you already have this in your head, now it's just time to formalize it.

I like to imagine applying the OSI model to IT Management and it mostly works. At least from a planning point of view. This is the application of best practices to your budget. 25%-33% desktop replacement. Server warranty renewals and replacements. Software renewals and purchases. Backups and disaster recovery. Internet/Network costs. Projects, printers, copiers, phones, and whatever else you do in a years time. Where I work now, I have all these dollar figures in certain catagories, but there is no project to base the number on. Where did the number come from? What did the previous IT Manager have in mind? I have no way of knowing so I'm probably just going to turn the money back to finance and reboot next budget year.

You can probably do about 90% of this all the way up through layer 6 without too much outside input. But it gets interesting at layer 7 (applications). This is where IT truely meets business. This is where the steering committe above might be useful. I don't know how formalized it needs to be but getting a feel from each of the business unit managers, the owner, etc is a great place to start feeling out the application layer. Maybe it's time to deploy CRM software, or automated labeling system, etc etc etc. Very hard for IT people to see that in our daily bubble.

Once you have a good feel for business initiatives you can then base additional IT projects to back those up (that CRM software needs 2 servers, MS SQL, 2 Windows 2008 Std's, etc).

Nice little side effect is, once you know those initiatives you may even be able to propose something that you've seen "out there" to this business and make a really positive impact.

Anyway, yeah it is a LOT of work. But don't kill yourself getting formal quotes. Hit the web and guesstimate. You know you need 3 servers next year, so spec something out at Dell (or HP, or whatever vendor you use) then round it up (always give a little fluff in there, just in case). After you have the number, increase it by 10%-15% for a little more fluff.

0

This discussion has been inactive for over a year.

You may get a better answer to your question by starting a new discussion.